NPR knocks off Link TV's "Trails from the East" -- "That which I was looking for is at home."

NPR's programming from India seems to be a shallow knock off of "Trials from the East" -- a show on Link TV that interviews people throughout Asia on trains.

Here's a bit from one of my favorite segments: "I used to think living in the city would be wonderful. I've seen it on television. I've seen that everything is bright and colorful there. That's the modern city. A big world, full of challenges. And that's what I wanted too, and so I ended up in Bangkok.

"But I am from the countryside and I am very attached to my village. That's where you live like you like. I know the trees from when I was young. Now those trees are old their branches and barks have changed. Every tree is unique, every leaf is different. It is so fascinating to get to know all the trees.

"But in the town, every building is still, it is the same after 10 years. And the people are like pre-historic people. Everything is geared towards survival [sic?: possession?]. [You live?] from day to day. It's just like in the stone age, using everything and everyone in the fight for survival. And you have to have money, or you get nothing to eat.

"But what I really want is what I have left behind. That which I was looking for is at home. I was looking for modern life, for something new. But it meant that I left my real self behind."


"Kagan Approved Holocaust Revisionism At Harvard"

Great letter on Salon commenting on one of Glenn Greenwald's pieces:

Kagan Approved Holocaust Revisionism At Harvard

When Alan Dershowitz was exposed as a plagiarist in 2003, he launched a hysterical smear campaign against Norman Finkelstein, who exposed him in the most humiliating (and hilarious fashion).

One of the many slanders aimed at Finkelstein was the charge that his mother (a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, whose family had been exterminated by the Nazis, and who was a government witness in war crimes trials against Nazi guards and deportation hearings for Nazi war criminals hiding in the US) was a Nazi collaborator, or that Finkelstein had accused his mother of being one.

Dershowitz put this disgusting libel on the official web page for Harvard Law School, with the support of Elena Kagan (click my name to read the details).

http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/who-was-maryla-husyt-finkelstein/

Although acknowledging that the Law School webpage had content limits, Kagan did not consider Dershowitz’s statements objectionable.

So according to Elena Kagan, Holocaust revisionism is fit for publication on the official website of the Law School where she was the dean.

Sometimes the Problem is the Culture, not the Media

Today tried to reach Merv Fingas, author of "The Basics of Oil Spill Cleanup" and other books. I'd emailed him a couple of days ago, receiving no response, called his office. Except it wasn't his office anymore. I was told by the person who picked up the phone that Fingas was retired. He added that he's received a ton of media calls and doesn't want to deal with them -- wants to "enjoy his retirement". I don't know any other specifics about Fingas, he may be taking care of a sick loved one for all I know, but I've seen this type of thing before: Someone spends their life on a subject and when their knowledge becomes relevant for a public discussion, they clam up, further impoverishing our public sphere. I'd imagine they are thinking to themselves that people were not listening when they should have been -- I know I've thought that when I had expertise that people suddenly were interested in. But the overwhelming need to to meet people where they are and take them to a better place. Otherwise the public sphere is dominated by the ignorant.

Chomsky: No Time to Read Onion Piece About Him

My friend and sometimes collaborator Matthew Bradley sent me a link to the Onion piece about Noam Chomsky this morning, "Exhausted Noam Chomsky Just Going To Try And Enjoy The Day For Once."

Wrote Matt: "Hate and love this sort of parody all at once..."

I reluctantly forwarded it to Chomsky: "If you haven't already gotten 237 emails about this."

Chomsky: "Now 238. I'll have to look at it I guess, but the title sounds like an original idea."

Me: "Perhaps it would be funniest if you didn't read it. I could write up alittle blog post about it. (which you wouldn't have to read)."

Chomsky: "OK, deal."

So, done.


This morning I saw a news flash about 80 killed in Iraq (now over 100). I stared out the window for a minute, then went on writing a couple of news releases about Elena Kagan -- because what happens to that may have an impact on whether the next war happens. I think many people find real joy in friends and family, in nature and in art. But many people's emotional lives are tied up in how cute and funny it is that Thurgood Marshall called Kagan "shorty" according to Obama from the "news" conference this morning.

Several years ago, I began a discussion with a friend named Thomas, who works down the hall from me. Thomas' contention was that it's basically useless to try to "fight the system". "The horse is out of the barn," he'd say about ecological and other disasters. "Drink lots of wine, have lots of sex." I mentioned this to a couple of activist friends. One noted leftist replied: "Tough to argue with that."

But I think whatever the superficial circumstances of one's life, a large part of the issue is feeling a connection to other people, many or the vast majority of whom you'll never know; many of whom are yet to be born. The joy I feel by writing my best approximation of the relevant truth everyday in a news release and try to reach the public mind with that I think gives me a bigger jolt than Thomas gets from varied "pleasures" (not that I'm pretending to be a stranger to them). That's when things go well. When things go badly -- when things seem useless, when some sense of love doesn't seem to be pushing things forward, when I feel isolated -- then the tiniest bit of work seems like drudgery.

Times Square Suspect and Selective Speculation

At about 8:00 this morn, I Twittered that "Faisal Shahzad's house was foreclosed" -- got retweeted and forwarded by a bunch of people. Getting some pickup by some outlets now, AP got records, but still largely ignored by the mass media outlets as far as I can tell. I found out about the foreclosure by finding the coverage of a local commercial station, WTNH. This is amazing -- I'd think that every major news organization had someone that looked at the local station's coverage, but it doesn't get into their coverage. All this speculation regarding his links to Pakistan (without explaining why people in Pakistan and the entire region might resent US policy, not just recently, but for decades) while omitting this actual fact. If you're going to speculate, atleast put everything on the table.

Joseph Cirincione Whitewashing Israel's Nukes

Today's NPT conference -- and the repeated calls for a nuclear-free Mideast -- reminded me of Cirincione's comments on The Diane Rehm Show on April 12, 2010 (listen to audio beginning 26:50). Cirincione claimed Israel has a "quite strong non proliferation record in recent decades ... Israel has not been a stimulus to an arms race in the Middle East ... Iran has been much more of a stimulus."

This is incredibly problematic in a number of ways. Here's one: "Myth: Israel's Strike on Iraqi Reactor Hindered Iraqi Nukes."